This tiny city has a crime epidemic reminiscent of the Bronx of the seventies. It is also the scene of some of the most ambitious gang raids ever conducted, led by an FBI agent who knows the young men he’s arresting only too well.

The Upright Citizens Brigade arrived with a mission: to make New York comedy smart again. And to get on TV. Fifteen years on, members of the scene that begat Amy Poehler—and about half the funny people on TV—look back on the blood, sweat, and teabagging.